Mutual fund assets cross Rs 7.5 lakh cr mark

The mutual fund industry clocked a 3 per cent growth in its average assets under management (AAUM) to touch Rs 7.53 lakh crore in August on the back of higher inflows into liquid and income funds, Crisil said on Wednesday.

This was the first time since April 2011 when the industry's AUM crossed the Rs 7.5-lakh crore mark, it said.

Rise in MF assets is primarily due to inflows of around Rs 14,800 crore into the liquid funds, taking the total assets under management under this category to Rs 1.93 lakh crore.

"Improvement in liquidity in the system has aided inflows into the category. Liquidity in the banking system improved further in the month post the one percent reduction in SLR (statutory liquidity ratio) to 23 per cent," it said.

Similarly, income funds also saw inflows of Rs 7,500 crore during the reporting month to reach Rs 3.49 lakh crore, which is the fifth consecutive month of inflows into the category.

"Fund flows into the category continued to be on account of fixed maturity plan (FMP), new fund offers (NFOs) as well as inflows into dynamic bond funds, short-term income funds and ultra short-term debt funds," the report said.

Equity funds, however, witnessed a dip in average AUM by 1.19 per cent to Rs 1.76 lakh crore last month on the back of outflows of over Rs 2,300 crore.

"The outflows were a result of profit-booking on recent gains in the equity market," the report said, adding the domestic market moved higher due to positive cues.

Referring to gold ETFs, the report said gold ETFs rose for the second consecutive month in August with inflows of Rs 88 crore to reach Rs 10,700 crore of total AUM.